Cricket 1909

J u l y 22, igog. CRICKET A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 2 7 5 The construction of the Demon Drivers is fully described in The Evolution of a Cricket Bat , which may be obtained free upon applica­ tion. CRICKET IlMFROVED MAKE-KEEP THEIR SHAPE-LAS LO H CERl C A T A L O G U E U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N . C A T A L O G U E U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N . C A T A L O G U E U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N . BU r r r i U U J J n U U l M L L J r.^OCIATVo ip p ysii IMPROVEDMAKE-KEEPTHEIR SHAPE-LASTLONGERT C A T A L O G U E U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N . BU S SE Y S O ^ D EM O N D R IV ER S \ O o ARE0UTAND0UTTHEBEST- I O '[C A T A L O G U E .J U P O N A P P L IC A T IO N [TO GEO. G. BUSSEY & Co.. Ltd . 36 & 38, Queen V ictoria St., LONDON. Manufactory — Timber Mills — PECKHAM, S.E. ELMSWELL, SUFFOLK, Agents all over the w orld. CRICKETERS AND THE BUDGET. The following statement with regard to the Finance Bill has been issued by the Maryle­ bone Cricket Club, and will be sent by Mr. Lacey with a covering letter, given below, to all the county clubs and other leading clubs in Great Britain :— Lord’s Cricket Ground, London, N.W. July 20, 1909. Dear Sir,—I beg to enclose a copy of a petition which has been sent to the Chancellor of the Exchequer asking him to exempt ciieket and other recreation grounds from the operations of the Finance Aet. It is felt that the matter is urgent, and my committee will be glad of your co-operation in obtaining the support of all cricket and other recreation clubs in your county not carried on for the purpose of distributing profits. I shall be glad to receive, as soon as convenient, resolu­ tions of all committees of such clubs in the United Kingdom supporting the petition and stating the number of members in each club. Such resolutions will be used in strengthening the petition of the M.C.C. It is suggested that county clubs that are not in touch with the smaller clubs in their county should secure the help of the local Press. Yours faithfully, F. E. L acey , Secretary M.C.C. [COPY OF PETITION.] “ The Committee of the M.C.C. desire to represent in the strongest possible manner that a clause should be inserted in the Finance Bill exempting from the operation of the new land taxes all land used for cricket and other outdoor recreation as long as there is no distribution of profits among the members of the club or public body owning the ground ; if not, the incidence of these taxes will have a disastrous effect upon the maintenance of such grounds. As open spaces, they are most valuable to the com­ munity at large, but in addition, in the great majority of cases, they afford opportunities for recreation for all classes, including, to a large extent, the working classes, which can never be replaced in any other way. “ The value of the grounds if sold for building and other purposes would undoubtedly be very large, but occupied as they are at present they produce no rental or occupation value to the clubs and public bodies that hold them, and in many cases they are managed so as to permit their use for clubs at a minimum cost, and even now barely pay their expenses. In the cases of many cricket grounds— as, for instances, those owned and occupied by the London Playing Fields—the incidence of the additional taxes would inevitably mean the closing of the grounds. “ The Committee of the M.C.C. feel that it is wholly unnecessary to enlarge upon the absolute necessity in the public interests of these grounds being maintained and managed as at present. In many cases it would be quite impossible to allow free public access to them, as there would be no means of protecting the property of the clubs. The Committee of the M.C.C. fully recognise that should the grounds be sold for purposes of profit or for any purpose, except that of acquiring other grounds for like purposes, they should be liable to taxation, but as long as they continue to be managed as at present exempting words ought certainly to be inserted. Without venturing to suggest the actual form of words, the following suggestion is made ‘ That all land owned, leased, or occupied by clubs or associations which are not carried on with the object of distributing profit among their members, and used by such clubs or associations for the purpose of games or recreation should, so long as they are so used, be exempted from fresh taxation under this Bill.’ ” ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. E mlej * W ood . —Price Id. post free from the office of the paper, Stonecutter Street, E.C. We do not think an article on the same topic by tho player you name has appeared in a recently published book. G eo . C remer .—N o such annual publication is issued. J. K. C. E dwards .— Unfortunately, pressure on space prevents. “ G loster .” —We fear he will not be well enough to do so. MR. BURNS, CRICKETER. The President of the Local Government Board is, as all who know him know, a very keen cricketer, and one who, in less strenuous days, was among the most familiar and popular figures in the Oval crowd. Busy man though he is, Mr. Burns will always make time for a little talk about the Game of Games. So I asked him (writes a correspondent) how he would “ cast” the English eleven for next Monday’s Test match at Old Trafford, and the right hon. gentleman at once enthusiastically complied. “ If I had my way,” said he, “ I would give places to Hayward, Hobbs, Hayes, Marshal, Strudwick-----” “ Steady, steady! ” said I, mildly. “ I asked you for an England eleven, not a Surrey eleven.” “ Whose team is this, yours or mine?” retorted Mr. Burns. “ What we want is young blood, every time, and I may remind you that a Surrey man (Smith) is at present at the top of the first-class bowling averages, with the splendid record of sixty wickets, at a fraction more than nine runs apiece. I put in Strudwick because, on present form, there is not a better wicket-keeper before the public, and he can also make runs.” I ventured to remind the right hon. gentleman of the claims of Mr. Shields, who in the first innings of the Players at Lord’s slumped two and caught two off Mr. Carr’ s “ googlies.” “ As I remarked before, this is my eleven and not yours,” said Mr. Burns. “ I will play Barnes, Blythe, K. L. Hutchings, and possibly P. F. Warner and E. W. Dillon.” 1 ‘ There’s what one might call a con­ siderable leaven of Surrey and Kent about your selection,” said I, discontentedly. “ Also, you haven’t enough bowling. Of course, you know, there are two little counties called Lancashire and Yorkshire, and----- ” But Mr. Burns ignored the interruption, and continued : “ I would always give pride of place to Tom Hayward; he is literally indispensable to Test match cricket.” “ Well, then,” I ventured, “ as to your eleventh place, will you give it to ------ or ------ or ------ ? ” Of course, if it come to that, I believe you yourself once scored 290 (not out) for the Battersea----- “ Show this gentleman the door! “ exclaimed Mr. Burns good-humouredly. But before the uniformed myrmidon of the L.GB. could execute this command I had, in the language of the military critics, effected my retirement in good order.— Westminster Gazette . OBITUARY. C ol . T. B. H itchcock . Col. Thomas Burnett Hitchcock, J.P.i died at his residence, Weeke Manor, near Winchester, on July 10th. He was born on June 19th, 1814, and was in the Winchester Eleven in 1862, under the captaincy of Mr., afterwards Sir Herbert, Stewart. In the match with Eton he made only one run in his two innings, and Eton, owing largely to scores of 58 and 34 by Alfred Lubbock, won by a wicket. Ool. Hitchcock, who was in the 53rd Regiment and retired in 1887, served in the Egyptian War of 1882 and in the Soudan Campaign of 1884.—J.D.B;